This post by Fellow Joyce Hampton examines the background to the foundation of the Bank of England in 1694, and the role played by the Walloon Houblon family, particularly Sir John Houblon, the Bank's first Director. Among the original subscribers to Bank stock were many Huguenots...

Following a previous blog on a mid-seventeenth century Southwark MP of immigrant stock, we look at how Protestant 'strangers' were viewed in Parliament during that period. While some incomers could be perceived as a threat to vested interests or to the peace of the realm, others might be welcomed and given assistance. The parliamentary Journals yield a variety of interesting insights....

With the French Protestant Church of London preparing to reopen this Sunday after its impressive renovation, and the Covid-19 closure, we take a look at the Church's history and influence from its foundation in 1550 to the present day....

MPs of immigrant heritage are now prominent in the House of Commons, but this is not simply a recent development. Peter de Lannoy, who was elected in 1656 by inhabitants of the large and diverse borough of Southwark, was descended from Walloon refugees and baptised in a French-speaking church. A local dyer, engaged in a trade enriched by immigrants, he exemplifies both the gradual process of assimilation and a temporary widening of participation in Parliament in the mid-17th century ....

Spitalfields, formerly part of the large parish of Stepney, became a parish in its own right with the consecration of Christ Church, in 1729. By this date, the Huguenot refugees who had settled there in the 1680s, in search of religious freedom, had made their name as expert silk weavers, and successful businessmen, and had their own chapels.The poorer members of this tight-knit community were assisted by Huguenot relief agencies, and a charity school operated under the auspices of the French Church of London ....